We’ve heard it all before (latest updates)

As I am drinking my first cup of coffee this morning and going through all of the media outlets, ESPN is revisiting, yet again, the Matt Schaub trade to Houston. Man, if I had known any better, I would have thought the Texans had won the Super Bowl with all the national media attention we have been getting all week long.

One thing that seems to resonate among the media elites is that Matt Schaub will not be any better here than David Carr, unless the Texans significantly upgrade at the offensive line. Really? So, Matt Schaub is going to be sacked 240+ times in the next four to five years? OK. For argument’s sake, let’s say he is. That would not be a very good outcome for Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith. This would almost guarantee their one-way ticket out of town.

Coach Kubiak is going to be screaming if Matt Schaub becomes familiar with the turf this year.(Steve Ueckert: Houston Chronicle)

Maybe I am crazy or just haven’t had enough coffee yet, but I feel the jury is still out on this OL. We don’t know whether or not they had a part to play in Carr’s failures or they were the sole reason Carr was familiar with the turf. I know we can watch tape and film and study the games, but I have always said we haven’t had a true litmus test on who’s to blame.

How can national experts and analysts already know that the team’s offensive line was so horrendous, that Schaub will fail if the Texans don’t get him some proper protection? If they can see that simply by watching tape and film, they are geniuses and need to be consultants for every NFL team’s draft selections.

After all, if they definitively know where every team’s weakness lies, the NFL could just back a truck of money up to the ESPN offices in Bristol, CT. and they would have a net worth of Bill Gates or those guys at Google. If they were THAT good, we would all take what ESPN predicts as the Gospel.

Can David Carr point a finger at the Texans OL for his lack of success? (Steve Ueckert: Houston Chronicle)

As fans and people who study our team, I want to know what you have seen to say that it WAS the OL fault for our previous shortcomings. Can you safely say that Scahub will fail if we don’t upgrade at the OL?

What I am trying to get to here is that it’s interesting to listen how outside opinions view David Carr. Many of the national media conglomerates think David Carr will be the best pickup for any team. It’s just amazing to not see anyone put some of the blame on Carr for his lack of success. Maybe it wasn’t Carr. It may have not been his fault, but I don’t know how anyone can safely predict that at this point.

From outside analysts, the Texans made a huge mistake getting rid of Carr. From a Houston fan, we may think otherwise. Until the season starts, I guess our Texans are going to be continuously dissected on their decisions this off-season by national media members. Hey, I guess as the saying goes: “Bad publicity is still good publicity”. Maybe a year or two ago, nobody outside of Houston knew who the Texans were. Now, nobody will ever be able to forget.

Thoughts/Opinions/remarks about all of this media attention for our team? Are they correct in their analysis?

• • •

**** The Miami Dolphins appear to be split on signing either QB Trent Green or David Carr. However, sources within the industry have stated that David Carr has openly stated that the Dolphins are his first choice for his post-Texans career.

“Just one year ago, the Texans paid QB David Carr an $8 million option bonus to buy three more years on his contract rather than draft hometown hero Vince Young. After trading for Atlanta backup Matt Schaub last week, the Texans cut Carr. It’s surprising they didn’t hold onto him at least through this week and try to trade him at the league meetings. Where will Carr wind up? The Dolphins, who have been focused on trading for K.C.’s Trent Green, could pursue Carr instead. So could Kansas City. New Raiders coach Lane Kiffin was a graduate assistant at Fresno State in 1997-98 when Carr was there. If the Raiders sign Carr, they would dump plans to draft LSU QB JaMarcus Russell with the first pick and likely take Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson, who is the best player in the draft”. …

69 Responses

I honestly believe that he is also to blame for the sacks. Warren Moon had a horrible offensive line and previously held the sack record. He seemed to turn out alright, and he learned to avoid defenders. Carr is getting a lot of sympathy for something he had a large part of.

Greg,

Look, I like Carr. I just don’t know how professional analysts can say that he never played a part in his own faltering. Sure, it could be the OL, but Carr had something to do with it, as well. Right? -TH

I for the longest has HATE the fact that they want to put the blame on the o line this past yr. I mean i will give the national media the first 4 yrs, but by any mean not last yr. We gave up 25 less sacks than the yr before with 3 starter being injured and really pretty much 2 rookies starting in place hodgdon 2 yrs and winston 1 yr exp and an old veteran with salaam and having your starting RB with dayne a guy that was a bust being the heisman winner, lundi 6th rd pick, and taylor an undrafted rookie not to mention learning a new system this past yr on offense.

Sorry i for one blame the running game for any pass protection problems we had and with Carr not being able to read def and throwing the ball 95% time looking at andre no matter if he was double or triple cover or the famous dump pass instead of looking dowin field to the other options. I mean of course with any team we have to stay healthy especially on your most important position on the o line and that is LT and RT-even though the RT injury was a blessing cause winston got more experience..people tend to forget before winston blew his knee out his junior yr he was consider a lottery pick and it takes at least 2 yrs to full recovery which this yr will be his 3rd yr and he look pretty good toward the end of the yr..i mean he had his bad moments like the raider game, but fergursion from the jets looked pretty bad against the dolphins this yr also.

As for the national media they make me laugh all of them. I bet not one of them looked at more than 1 complete games for the Texans and now all of the sudden they are an expert on our team. They see some highlights and box scores and they conclude what they think the problem entirely on the o line instead of watching entire game film on us.

I bet the stupid media doesnt know unless some stat guy on the side tells them, but the falcons have given up more sacks than the texans has the past 2 out of 3 yrs, but i never heard them blaming their o line for the falcons being an average team the past few yrs.

I guess this yr will finally get the true answers on who is really to blame on last yr o line or the QB not being able to make reads and holding the ball to long at time since it is pretty much the same o line we will go into this yr other than black.

RALPH

RALPH,

I think you bring up a good point. Aside from the times DD had been effective (when he wasn’t injured), we never really had a consistent running game. Even when Dayne and others were effective this year, teams never really were threatened by our running backs. If we can establish a solid running game and keep defenses honest, this will really help the OL and QB. -TH

The national observers ARE right in that if the pass protection is as bad here as it was the past 5 years, Schaub or any QB will struggle, at least to varying degrees. The poor protection was a seperate issue that only magnified Carr’s struggles with pocket presence, making good reads, low release point, hanging onto the ball etc. etc.

Where the national types are quite ignorant is this impression that the Texans have done nothing to improve the situation on the offensive line (no high draft picks, no free agent mega contracts) and the pass protection will no doubt continue to be terrible. A closer look reveals that is not necessarily what is going on here.

The Texans have brought in 5 offensive lineman in the past year plus and hired an associate head coach in Mike Sherman who is an offensive line expert. Charles Spencer, Eric Winston, Jordan Black and Ephraim Salaam are 4 new tackles. The first 2 could be stars (Spencer coming back from injury is a key) and the last 2 look like very solid backups. The Texans may not be done with this group either with the draft upcoming.

Remember last year Salaam was forced to start while hurt and Winston was forced to start as a rookie and the Texans were down to their 3rd center a number of games. Little wonder they struggled mightily at times.

With a little injury luck and improved depth this year things could go a lot smoother in terms of protection for the new QB that the national media is laughing at us over. The last laugh may be on them.

GTF,

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of team we have when we can get everyone back healthy. That will be the true test. -TH

TH, There is plenty of blame to go around. If Carr was 100% of the Texans problems, then there would have been no controversy. No speculation & no pointing fingers in any other direction. This is why David leaves Houston with so many still believing in his ability to excel somewhere else. He has a support group that swear we will rue the day we got rid of him. That we will cross paths with #8 in the future & regret another botched decision. These folks would not exist if there were concrete proof that Carr was never the man to get the job done. In my opinion he was never the face of this franchise, just the guy on the NFL highlight reel that drew national attention while in the prone position. His departure puts Houston back in the media spotlight. Schaub’s signing places that light on high beam. Whether it is good publicity or bad press one thing is for sure. The Texans are being talked about throughout the league & will be scrutinized in 2007 like never before. All eyes will be on us next season. People like to root for the underdog & that sure as heck is us.

Kreno,

I guess we should be proud that at least our team is being talked about, right? Before this, we couldn’t even get a Texans highlight shown on prime-time programs. -TH

ESPN sucks. Plain and simple. They have no competition in the market, so they can say/do whatever they want and not give a crap. What, everybody’s gonna suddenly switch over to Fox Sports? No.

But hey, at least they finally got rid of Michael Irvin….

Madman,

I like ESPN. I just don’t like that we have no other alternatives to go to for our sports. We are forced to have to listen to their views, whether they are right or wrong. Hey, that’s free-enterprise at it’s best. -TH

the NATIONAL MEDIA has no idea how hard it is being a TEXAN FAN, but the last five years have not been very good, and they have no idea.

LOOK AT ALL THE CHANGES we have made this offseason

we got jordan black at OL, and most likely will draft another in the later rounds.

that is a stellar improvement so far, and just to see a lot of new faces on the team will make it exciting and fun to watch

i dont think all these free agents are coming here because they think we have no chance at winning, and we arent really paying any of them to much.

SO they must see something good happening, and they want to be a part of it. I surely want to be a part of it, as im sure TH and the rest of the bloggers do as well.

SO SCREW THE NATIONAL MEDIA AND THEIR EAST COAST BIAS, and let them talk about the pats and colts and sox and yanks, and we will KEEP IT REAL IN THE SOUTH with quality players, no thugs, and hopefully within 2-6 years, people will be saying wow, look how this franchise turned itself around and became an annual contender

I ALSO WISH MR DAVID CARR THE BEST, AND TRULY HOPE HE GOES TO A TEAM AND LIGHTS IT UP AND WINS A SUPERBOWL ONE DAY, because after all the crap he took in houston, he definetely deserves it!

Allen,

I think the people outside of Houston fans don’t see what we see or they just choose not to see it. It’s always funny that you will see them take credit for something they got right, but won’t admit when they got it wrong. Oh well, onward and upward…-TH

It is seldom any ONE thing that is to blame. The o-line is a big part of the problem, but so is coaching, the QB, RB, TE, WRs and plain old bad luck.

Sure sometimes the o-line is overmatched by the opponents d-line. We have all seen the spectacular whiff blocks. We have seen 2 sometimes 3 d-linemen play “meet me at the QB” when there was no blitz on.

We’ve seen RBs and the o-line miss blitz assignments and TE miss blocks, receivers not getting open and dropping balls etc. We have seen lousy blocking schemes, poor game plans, failure to make adjustments, and dumb play calling.

We have also seen the QB fail to recognize blitzes, read coverages, throw past the line of scrimmage, hold the ball too long, run into sacks, and step out of bounds instead of throwing the ball away.

Plain old bad luck contributed as well. The o-line has never had a chance to gel. Injuries and constant shuffling of players prevented that.

And then tere is Carr’s toughness. I lost count of the times he got back up when I was thinking “Dude, just stay down.” Much of Carr’s demeanor that he gets ripped for and some of the bad plays were (in my opinion) caused by the stars and tweety birds circling his head. If you have never had a concussion and don’t understand from experience what the phrase ‘knocked into the middle of next week’ means… well, you ain’t missed a thing. Suffice it to say, I am sure he had to watch the film to know what happened the rest of the game.

D,

It is hard to pin the blame on one person or one position. That’s why I can’t understand media’s convictions that it was all of the OL fault. I guess we’ll find out this year when we see how Schaub does. -TH

Carr as a devout Christian and family man had priorities higher than adjusting mechanics, slaving over game film and developing leadership skills.

Carr has yet to comment on his release and when he does, he will take the high road as his faith likely dictates.

Carr seemed like Joel Osteen in pads.

God bless him.

Martin,

This is what I think. I think if teams are asking Carr to restructure his contract , so that a team can sign him and he can get a second chance, that is going to say a lot about where he is with football. He doesn’t have to restructure it, but if he is willing to, that will tell us he is willing to do what it takes to prove himself to another team. If he doesn’t, well it will be easy for us to say that he has other priorities than football (I am not saying is a bad thing). -TH

The media guys are a bit overboard but they are generally correct. The O-Line is not very good nor is there reason to think it will be much better next year. Flanagan and McKinney are at best very average, Spencer had promise but even if healthy we have no idea, and we have a couple of serviceable guys. Do you think if any of our guys were FAs anybody would come calling?

Say the line is better….you still have a questionable older RB, and only 1 wr – Kevin Walter is a stareter, how sad is that? Schaub isnt going to much more effective than you or me if he doesnt have time and weapons…and right now he doesnt have a whole lot of either.

Gene,

Those are valid points. I will agree with you on those aspects. Let’s just hope they don’t make the same mistakes with Schaub as they did Carr – not surrounding him with proper tools. -TH

Thomas,did James Reed sign with anyone yet,if not is there any chance we could still sign him? I also would like to know if the Texans have any interest in Patten to take Moulds spot?

IT,

I haven’t heard James Reed sign with anyone. I know the Chiefs were disappointed with him last year and don’t really want to re-sign him. I believe he is still out there as a free agent. As far as Troy Patten, I think the Texans want to go with a drafted WR, so that Kubiak and the offensive coordinators can mold him into what they want. That’s one of the reasons they released Moulds. They are trying to shy away from a lot of pricey veterans. I think having veterans on the team is crucial for a team’s success. I wish they would have kept Moulds and given him another shot. He was not used properly last year. -TH

Carr has been cut. He has his $8M bonus from last year is in the bank and the prorated share of that is what the Texans take as their cap hit.

He has no contract to restructure at this point.

He can work whatever deal he and his agent are comfortable with. The restructuring talk was only applicable if another team had ponied up a draft choice in trade and accepted his contract.

Or, am I not understanding these goofy NFL salary rules?

Nick,

you are right. What I was referring to is some teams who are interested in Carr didn’t want to pay him his base $5.5 million salary, especially if he was going only be a backup. I was saying if he was put into that position, although he is not obligated to, it would sort of say where is priorities lie. Is he willing to go the extra mile to prove himself to another team? That’s what many readers have written me about. I was stating the side of a lot of readers. -TH

We should have gotten rid of Carr a year earlier and drafted Vince Young.

Actually, we should not have drafted Carr at all. The scouting report in college indicated that he held the ball too long. Sound familiar?

If we did draft him, he should absolutely not started his first year. We had a pretty good quarterback in Tony Banks and Carr could have watched and learned. He has admitted that, during the first year, he had no idea what was going on.

That’s not Carr’s fault. Blame that on Capers, Casserly, or McNair. Could someone find out who’s idea it was to start Carr his rookie year?

In 2007, Carr might make a team somewhere as a backup, but even that would be dependent on what he does in training camp and exhibition games.

First, it would be hard to convince me Moon had a terrible O-Line with 2 Hall of Famers on it the whole time he was there. The most he got sacked in one season was 47 times. You look at his numbers and you’ll notice he kind of sucked until his sack numbers got under control.If you look at the last 4 expansion teams, the only one that was decent offensively early in their history was the only one that didn’t draft a QB with their initial pick (Jacksonville). Oh yeah, they drafted Tony Boselli first and he knocked out 5 Pro Bowls before he got hurt. Kerry Collins only had 1 year where he had more TDs than Ints until his 6th year and never had a passer rating over 80.0 until then. By then he had been booted out of Carolina. Tim Couch? I probably don’t need to go into that. Carr? We all know about that too. I think it’s interesting that Capers was behind two of those three QB picks. Now you can say “Carolina went to the play-offs their second year.” Yeah, but their defense was #2 in points allowed that year. We’ve never been nearly that good.

The point is that while it might not be this regime’s fault, it seems that drafting a QB with your franchise’s first pick ever (without building an O-line first) is setting that QB up to fail. The good thing is that this regime does seem to value a strong O-line. Perhaps that comes from Kubiak’s own experience in the pocket. Building a line is not an overnight process though. Bruce Matthews didn’t make his first Pro Bowl appearance until his fifth year.As far as Carr possibly holding on to the ball too long…come on…name one receiver we’ve had that could consistently get open on his own and pull the double-team away from Johnson. Perhaps he could have done a better job throwing the ball away, but if your other receivers aren’t getting open and Johnson is double-teamed, who are you going to throw to? Occasionally you’re going to get sacked holding on to the ball. My guess is the fans would have been screaming if Carr kept throwing the ball away time and time again.If Carr had issues, it was leadership issues…being available at the facility instead of taking tapes home to watch, etc.. That is partly his fault and partly the fault of the old regime. They had the responsibility to show David what was expected of a starting NFL QB, not just on the field, but off it also. They should have said, “Dave, I know you want to go home to be with your family, but if you want to be an effective leader in the NFL, you’re going to have to set the example and be here morning, noon, and night. That’s what the job requires.”If Matt Schaub gets sacked 50 times this year, he’ll probably be as effective as David Carr. However, I think the renewed emphasis that this regime has put on the O-line will pay off. It took the last regime too long to figure out that Tony Boselli was not coming back. Drafting David with their initial pick…not putting an emphasis on the O-line…coddling David and not showing him what was required of a starting NFL QB from a leadership standpoint…I put David’s failures squarely on the old regime’s back more than anybody’s.

I think Dan Pastorini and Warren Moon said it best wrt David Carr’s performance. I found both of their view points interesting enough to wonder why they weren’t currrently part of the NFL media somewhere.

Especially Pastorini, who went through similer experiances with the Oilers.

He says “A lot of what happened to him was his fault. He struggled with his mechanics and not picking things up. He has that sidearm delivery, and he had more balls batted down than any quarterback I’ve seen.”

That was just one of the things. I wanted David Carr to succeed, but when he was making the same types of mistakes on 04 that he’ld made earlier, even though the line was blocking more and the team was winning more that’s when I started to scratch my head.

As far as bad publicity and the Texans, we all know bad publicity is only usefull to rock stars and celebrities like Paris Hilton, in other words, career celebrities.

Someone has a theory that NFL analysts get paid by the word, double for every word with multiple syllables.

I think you do a good job of keeping the discussion going without taking sides. That’s gonna get a lot tougher after the draft and before camp.

Tom,

Thanks. I don’t take sides because every reader is intelligent enough to make up their own minds. There are too many medias that try and force their views on its readers. As a fan, sure I have my own views and opinions. As a writer, I find it better to stay out of it and just present the facts and debates. Tom, you always bring some good points to the table. Thanks! -TH

one thing about the national media is they may know what is going on with NFL teams who stay in the spotlight year round, i.e. Patriots, Colts, Chicago, but Most have no idea what is really going on with the Texans. The fact is there is enough blame to go around between Carr and the Texans BUT, the Texans never gave Carr a chance to Succeed. Carr is not Peyton, McNabb, or Brady in that he can carry a team by himself. Those QB’s are hard to come by but Carr may have been good with the proper talent around him.Like Alex Smith former No. 1 overall pick of SF. He probably cant carry the team by himself but with a Pro Bowl Runner, No. 5 Overall pick Tight End from last year, Good O-line anchored by Larry Allen, and good (not great) WR, he played well last year. This is how you allow a QB to develop. Carr played with 5 other rookies when he was a rookie and i dont think 8 of his first year offensive teamates are in the NFL anymore. That is rediculous and it almost ensures your QB will not develop. The Local Media guys try so hard to push their agenda as opposed to being objective. I really saw that in reading about Carr’s situation the last 2 years. The local writers wanted to make a story as opposed to reporting a story. We will never know what Carr could have been in a Texans Uniform and we never will but i Hope he has so much success with his next team, he deserves it.

Gene, your skepticism is understandable based on the all-together-now-lets-collapse pass blocking we have seen all too often here the last 2 seasons and yes they desperately need another WR. I also agree that the vet centers we have are nothing to brag on. Valid points all on the negative side.

Where I disagree with you is your blacket assessment that this line will not get any better next season. Sure, it might not, but when you consider that 4 of last years season-opening starters were lost to injury for most or all the season, any injury luck at all should lead to improvement alone. Then when you consider Winston’s improved play the last part of the season (where he was forced to play as a rookie) and the possible return of Spencer at some point along with the pickup of Black as an insurance policy, I say there is some room for optimism there.

I will say they still need a left tackle though to allow Spencer to eventually move to RT and Winston to RG. I would not be opposed to trading down to say 15 to 20 for another pick or 2 then draft Joe Staley to hopefully finally fill that spot once and for all. This is pretty deep WR draft and decent ones will be left come Rd 3. They could draft DBs after that and maybe pick a sleeper DE later also (Mkristo Bruce maybe). I suspect however a DB/WR combo will be their first 2 picks.

i posted this on a couple of other chron.com blogs and this is truly how i feel. I just thought some of YOUR readers, the true fans, would like to see it.

I read this blog (solomans) and tend to see a lot of very immature people that are old eneough to be my father acting like little girls in sixth grade.

LETS GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT:

VY and RB—–are not texans, will never be texans, and have no interest in being a texan any more.

they are not part of this team

PLEASE GET OVER IT AND FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

why live in the past when the future can only get better and there are so many things to look foward to.

the other blogs, even RJ’s, but mostly TH’s texans fan blog have gotten this point across to about 95% off the regulars that post on there. and no body acts like little girls just learning that once a month they will “feel grumpy and wierd.”

I was impressed with STEVE S for being a MAN and apologizing for saying something he knows was immature, and i hope the rest of yall can do so as well

so i guess if yall want to live in the past, go right ahead

but if you want to move on and act like grown ups, then start posting on the other blogs where the true fans that have season tix no matter what are talking about the PRESENT and FUTURE of our TEXANS

i dont think this is too much to ask, and hopefully we can all grow up and act our age

I FIND IT PRETTY IRONIC HOW PEOPLE OLDER THAN ME, I AM 24, TRY AND TELL ME TO RESPECT MY ELDERS AND ALL THAT CRAP, WHEN IN FACT THE MOST MATURE AND UN-NEGATIVE BLOG ON THIS WEBSITE ABOUT THE TEXANS IS RUN BY A COLLEGE STUDENT IN HIS 20’s.

some of you people really dissappoint me, both journalists and blog posters.

GO TEXANS 2007, and i wish matt a good, long and healthy, career, and the same certainly goes for DAVID CARR as he is a class act and genuine good hearted person.

i really hope some of you read this and really take it to heart!!

thanks for the one great POSITIVE blog TH!!!

Allen,

You gave every right to feel that way. I always like to allow people to vent anyway they want to on here. I am here to try and put things into perspective. You have to remember – I am a fan first, a writer second. -TH

1.2 seconds to throw? HMMM? Yes,when he had some time he didnt make the most of it,so I would have to say EQUAL blame to go around. But the coaching & GM philosophy didnt help either. So we can say in effect this has been a disaster since day one. I for one have been preaching building an O line first,then working on skill players. If they draft correctly this yr,taking a chance on Ahman Green may be the right thing,for now.Obviously not the future,but stopgap measure. I just dont understand why these so called football GENIUSES cant understand building the line first. Peterson wont do any good with no blocking,look at Edgerrin James in AZ. DC is history so look to the future,hopefully they wont screw up as bad as C & C did.

David Carr’s battered history with the Houston Texans is a “packaged deal” that included incompetent coaching, poor offensive schemes and an ineffective offensive line. Add to this the blistering bashing of Carr by the local media and fans and the cause of mediocrity for Carr’s performance is easy to see. Certainly, he has issues regarding his throwing style that may never be “fixed”. But, had he had a better supporting cast he probably could have been functional to the extent of leading the Texans to the playoffs. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the best pass defense is a good running game. Hopefully, our running game will benefit Matt Schaub as it did Carr when we beat Indianapolis this past season. Since this is Gary Kubiak’s second season a lot of the first year “kinks” should be worked out. A teams success isn’t always just talent. Continuity, health issues and familiarity with a system are also important factors. Regarding the future, especially the draft, I think we need the following: two offensive lineman, pass rushing defensive end, a monster of a defensive tackle, a sub 4.4 physical brutal cornerback, a tear your head off free safety, and a sub 4.3 dominant wide receiver. Seems simple enough.

KP,

Yeah, it does seem simple. Let’s hope it becomes simple for the team to execute everything you just listed. -TH

The answer is simpple Thomas, NATIONAL Media. These guys look at a couple highlights from around the nation and make wacky predictions as if they were right here in houston looking at the full 60 minutes on CBS no doubt. If you haven’t figured out, I have a very hard time with national analyst/media types, I love the ESPN’s and Fox Sports for the highlight informational element but very rare you see anyone on them shows hit an analysis right on a team that’s not really on the radar.

Although I don’t want to bring up this name but this is an example of how off they are @ ESPN. I can not think of the one analyst/scouter name for like 4 or 5 weeks consecutively talking about how crapy VY was and the guy was enjoying a healthy winning streak. I thought the tv dude was on dope or something. They job is to stur us up and force us to call or write our local media people and talk about it. I am really getting to the point when it comes to judging decision making, moves, drafts, whatever I will stick to the locals for analysis. These are the same Media types that had Leinart going in the top 5 dude slipped to 10 although listening and reading local stuff it wasn’t a surprise. I will only take advice or listen to national media folks if they are recommending “make up” for tv and I hate to say it but that included ROME.

TH: I will give my 2 cents to your question, but preface it by saying that no one knows unless you truly breakdown film and look at what is happening in all aspects of the play. I surmise that all aspects have been below par on this. The most obvious is the O-line and for a reason. While I think the o-line that Kubiak is putting together may be pretty good, Carr didn’t have them at their best for very long last season. But most sacks are a protection breakdown. You also have mis-reads by the receivers who may run a wrong or poor pattern. And you have QB’s who don’t throw on timing. Carr didn’t throw alot of timing patterns his first 3 years. Troy Aikman is the best timing QB I’ve ever seen. He was uncanny. Brett Favre is not comfortable with timing patterns. That is why they let him freelance. Aikman doesn’t freelance as well. My point is I think Carr was struggling to adapt to the pass offense of Kubiak. Aikman also stated that once Novacek retired he struggled to make plays in that offense because he never had a TE that he felt comfortable with. My point out of this is there are many factors that go into a successful offense. Coaches need to adjust the offense to fit the personnel and what they do well. I don’t know how much of the problem was O-line but I believe that most of it was. 30 years of coaching, some times with poor QB play tells me that Carr probably was responsible for 5-8% of the total sacks, 5-10% poor routes by receivers, 25% coverage sacks, and approximately 60% would be poor o-line play. Sometimes the o-line gets blamed for a poor blitz pickup by the RB.

It makes for good conjecture but if you take a stopwatch to most passing plays by the Texans I doubt they met the NFL average of 3.2 seconds. The question of whose to blame by the very nature of the jobs assigned should tell you the answer. The best passing teams do a great job of protecting their QB. Yes QB’s can help but they are not the ones who block. While I do think Carr contributed, he certainly was not the blame for most of his sacks. In addition when Carr had D. Davis at RB he was a very good hot receiver for Carr and teams blitzed less often. Davis had the ability to make plays which caused the defense to respect that and so they blitzed less often. I didn’t see that same ability by RB’s to make plays for their QB last year which makes defenses tee off on the QB even more. As I said we really don’t know without breaking down film. Kubiak will either be right or we’ll all consider this another in a long line of mistakes by this organization. Let’s hope he knows what he’s doing.

ESPN has very little detailed knowledge of what’s happening on any of the teams outside of those in the northeast and a few on the west coast. Their pre-season predictions are generally biased (and way off) as a result, as is most of their reporting.

In spite of the injuries and shuffling of personnel, the Texans OL did improve over the course of last year. It wasn’t an accident that Ron Dayne and Chris Taylor had several excellent games toward the end of the season. However, the passing game didn’t improve even with the running game making dramatic strides (the Carr factor). Remember also that this was a new scheme for the OL, and a completely new (and finally competent) set of OL coaches (and Sherman doing what he’s good at).

You have to figure the Texans will add at least one more OT on the 1st day of the draft, so with that addition and Jordan Black, they will have both more and better options on the line (not to mention that Charles Spencer should be back).But back to your question. The OL improved, the rushing game improved, but the passing game was horrible to the end. The constant was David Carr. He never improved his ability to avoid sacks, and never turned up the passing game, even when the Texans had very strong rushing performances. You could argue that Kubiak lost confidence in him and took the ball out of his hands, but the bottom line is that while the play around Carr improved, his performance remained the weak link. Personally, I have no doubt that if Sage had been healthy, Carr would have been on the bench in the last 5 games and the Texans would likely have been 7-9 or 8-8.With Schaub as the starter, the passing game will be better. Schaub has much better pocket presence and doesn’t stare at his receiver for 3-5 seconds before throwing. And he has the ability to scan more than 1 option before going to the check-off, which Carr could never do.The national media (particularly ESPN) haven’t had an original thought since Walter Cronkite was a news anchor, and David Carr was never going to be a great QB, regardless of the line play. Funny, they said the same thing about Joey Harrington when he left Detroit (that it was the players surrounding him), yet his performance with an arguably better team was just as inconsistent.

Billy Bob,

Good perspective. I have to admit I like ESPN, but I don’t really use them for solidified information. I am lucky to have my own resources for that, but it is interesting to see how many take what they say and run with it. I like to do my research and try and find the most accurate info that is out there for the readers. -TH

The national media thrive on sarcism, not legitimate analysis. I consider them bottom feeders and ignore them as much as I can. Thankfully, we have some great local information, including your blog. keep up the good work.

By the way, for whatever reason, Carr showed no pocket presence. I am hoping that Schaub won’t repeat that. I have heard he has great pocket presence and am looking forward to watching him.

Gary,

Thank you for the support and thanks for being part of this. I am happy to do this. I vowed to try and make this blog the best local information as possible for all the readers. I am also excited to see how Schaub (or any other QB) will function in our team’s system. It will be interesting and will answer a lot of questions us fans have had for a long time. -TH

I wonder if the national media noticed that the Texans could not trade David Carr. Hmmm. Didn’t all those scouts and coaches know it was the offensive lines fault. You know if the Texans had drafted Ryans with the first pick instead of in the second round, they would now look like geniuses. Know that you don’t censor your subjects, but the bloggers who merely criticize other bloggers need to comment on Football. And wipe their noses.

Jack,

That is a funny observation – if the Texans had drafted Ryans with the first pick, they would be labeled geniuses. Instead, people think they were lucky to find him in the later rounds. -TH

HOW in the heck can anybody beleive it was ALL Carr’s fault?!!!!You fools think that a QB can throw a pass while he’s on his butt every play? Come on! When your best lineman is Chester Pitts? Heck he wouldn’t be 2nd team on most other NFL teams! Carr never had the protection or the COACHING! I think it’s a 70/30 split on the blame game. Coaching and line/tool is 70percent to blame and Carr getting his brains beat in 30percent. All of you Carr haters got your wish and I’m sure Carr did also. I’m glad that he’s gone just for the fact that he’ll have a little time to retool himself and do a good job.

Paul

Paul,

Nobody said it was all Carr’s fault, but I have written that nobody can blame any one person right now. Who’s to blame will not become more clear until we see how Schaub does here and how Carr does somewhere else. -TH

I say it was 75% Carr’s fault. He had a side arm delivery,he could not read defenses,lacked leadership,held on to ball to long (when he didn’t fumble the snap).Offensive lineman get all the blame when you have a inmature qb who is totally confused and you have no clue what the hell he is going to do. Yes! They were praying Kubiak would get him out!!!!

Bob,

The ones who wanted Carr gone have gotten their wish. I hope it does work out, as well. It would be fun to start having winning seasons. -TH

I’m not sure anyone else has said something to this effect yet, so I’ll say the following. The Texans are a team, so the team is at fault for not scoring points. In David Carr’s defense, I’m not sure even Tom Brady, Donovan McNabb, nor even Peyton Manning could do what the detractors of David Carr wanted from him this past year.

Yes, the offensive line had troubles in pass protection. But the OL isn’t the only reason why David Carr was getting his butt kicked. Eric Moulds was brought here to do a job, and he flat-out didn’t. The number 2 receiver should and has to get separation, and he routinely failed to do so last year. He’s a class guy, no doubt about it. But in all honesty, he should have been a bench player. I’m flat-out amazed David Carr managed to get the ball to Andre Johnson more than 100 times this year, especially with double coverage.

Yes the OL needs more cohesion, but if the Texans don’t get another receiver that can routinely get separation, it may be more of the same for Matt Schaub. Let’s hope that Matt can be successful here and fans give him the chance that David wasn’t given.

Hilton says, “… Maybe I am crazy or just haven’t had enough coffee yet, but I feel the jury is still out on this OL. …”

You are not crazy, as least in term of this deal; your caffeine level appears okay; HOWEVER, I don’t think it was so much the offensive line parse but have the inordinate injuries they sustained in three of their last four seasons.

————–XXX—————

Lazarus,

I can’t wait to see everyone come back healthy and see what kind of team we actually have. We haven’t been able to keep everyone on the field at any one time. It would be nice to finally find out what kinds of players this team has. -TH

Thanks for your time and insight. Is this the same media and ESPN that at one time told everyone that Bryan Leaf and Not Payton Manning was the next best thing to come out of College that they had ever seen? They maybe right but from where I stand and watch for over 40 yr’s, I believe that the real problem was both. Yes the OL was weak, but the leadership that a QB needs to show was never there with DC. I don’t put a lot of stock into eastcoast or westcoast reporters. I would just like for management to get a chance and lets see what we have with Matt. The OL and RB position is critical to the success of any QB, but the Qb position must also be leaders of the team, which DC lost 2 yr’s ago. His pocket presents and awarness were in my opinion really weak makeing it look like the fault was with the OL. Just my thoughts and thanks again for your insite

I have been AMAZED in the past week as to the number of polarizing opinions on both sides of the Carr issue. You have folks who say that Carr just couldn’t get it done and was terrible…therefore get rid of him. You have folks who say the team never supported him and that he got a raw deal.

As usual the truth lies somewhere firmly in the middle. The truth is that from the momoent he got here Carr was handled poorly and not given a good chance to succeed. Because of this his development was seriously screwed up and he became a player that couldn’t get it done and needed to be replaced. The team bears a significant amount of blame for his career to this point. Carr deserves a significant amount of blame as well. There have been other QBs that have toiled under bad scenarios and shown some glimmers of the player they could be. BY the end of last season all hope of that was gone with Carr. This is a situation where a team screwed up a player and once everything started to come back around it was too late for the player. Blame falls on both parties involved…niether is innocent here

As has been written on here before, we can’t know for certain whether or not it was the OL or QB since Carr was our starter no matter what. So we have no comparison data (other than the times Sage was put in when the game was pretty much gone). I do believe DC bears a LOT of the blame for the sacks. Times I’ve watched the games I was looking at Carr staring down one receiver while the defense closes in on him. I was screaming “throw it away! THROW IT AWAY!” and then SMACK, he’s sacked. The lack of running game didn’t help, nor did the poor OL protection. But I think toward the end perhaps the OL stopped risking themselves for a QB they didn’t believe would warrant their effort.

Don’t get me wrong, DC is a nice guy and by no means is he the only issue with this team. But I do believe he was a significant part of the problem. He had to know he was the ‘darling’ of the team owner. Had he provided some leadership and gone to McNair and told him “Look, this is MY team and if you want me to win with it I need …..” As far as I know he never did that. He never took ownership of the team and attempted to drive the team to be what he needed. He never showed the leadership on or off the field that the team needed. Until he does he’ll never be a starting NFL QB.

For all those talking heads that think DC wasn’t the problem, look at how many teams were beating down the doors to the Texans front office trying to aquire his services. NONE! Either before or after the Schaub deal was announced. Other NFL people realized his shortcomings. They might want Carr, but only if they can get him cheap and use him as a backup. I seriously doubt he’ll be the starting QB on another team next season.

“I for the longest has HATE the fact that they want to put the blame on the o line this past yr. I mean i will give the national media the first 4 yrs, but by any mean not last yr. We gave up 25 less sacks than the yr before with 3 starter being injured and really pretty much 2 rookies starting in place hodgdon 2 yrs and winston 1 yr exp and an old veteran with salaam and having your starting RB with dayne a guy that was a bust being the heisman winner, lundi 6th rd pick, and taylor an undrafted rookie not to mention learning a new system this past yr on offense.

Sorry i for one blame the running game for any pass protection problems we had and with Carr not being able to read def and throwing the ball 95% time looking at andre no matter if he was double or triple cover or the famous dump pass instead of looking dowin field to the other options.”

You answered your own question. The offensive line was much worse than the sack numbers indicate because Kubiak specifically redesigned the offense in the preseason to prevent sacks.

That meant quick short passes to Andre where Carr would throw the ball as soon as he touched it. If a third of the pass attempts the ball was in Carr’s hand less than a second; it’s pretty reasonable to expect his sacks to decrease by about a third as well.

It’s funny, people complain he would hold on to the ball too long and others complain he would get rid of it too quickly and not do all his reads.

First, I’m not a huge fan of DC, seems like a great guy, but not sure I would’ve taken him over Peppers in 2002. That aside, I think people are in denial about the real weakness on the team–the OL. In 2006 the Texans OL ranked 27th in PASS protection, last in 2005, 30th in 2004, 25th in 2003 and last in 2002. You can’t look at DD or Dayne’s rushing stats and argue the OL was good, run blocking and pass blocking are two different things (obviously). You can’t argue the sack numbers were down so the OL has improved. The OL was still in the bottom 5 in the league in pass protection last year. Put aside the Carr blame for a second, and think objectively. Too many games in the past 5 years (including last year), a Texan QB was sacked without the defense blitzing (which means an OLineman is getting beat 1 on 1). Oh wait, that is a result of the QB holding onto the ball too long, right? In the past 5 years, the Texans QB had under the league average for the time to throw a pass. The last numbers I saw (which I can’t find now or I would post them) was something like 5 seconds for the league average for the QB to throw a pass before getting pressured, the Texans were around 3 seconds. Those 2 seconds mnake a big difference. OK, let’s blame Carr and say ESPN and other national “experts” don’t know what they are talking about in reference to the OL criticism(but everyone sure was mad when the Texans didn’t follow those same experts and draft the “greatest RB in the history of football,” Reggie Bush). 249 sacks in five years speak for themselves. People can try to blame Carr and his $37 million dollars for all of them if that makes you feel better about the team, but it won’t change the problem on the offensive side of the ball. (Not you TH, I’m with you I think there is enough blame to go around. I’d blame the OL about 50%, 2002-2005 coaching (or lack thereof) about 30%, and Carr 20%.)

Gatsby,

I think maybe the coaching does render some of the blame. Some have mentioned that, but you bring up a point that how much is the coaching during the Capers era to blame for the team’s lack of success? That’s a fair question. -TH

I left the following out of my previous post to shorten it, but I have to rant a little more. Someone compared Carr to Moon and his sack record earlier and said Moon figured it out and Carr hasn’t (or something to that effect). But remember, the Oilers took two big steps to help Moon, they drafted Munchak and Matthews with top 5 first round picks in back to back years. The Oilers understood a good offense flowed from a good offensive line. The Texans (or more specifically, Casserly) have never gotten that. The highest drafted OLinemen have been in the third round (Wand, Spencer, and Winston). That being said, I like the moves the Texans have made (Black, Winston, Spencer, Flanagan) the past two years to try and fix the OL. I would’ve liked to have seen what Carr could’ve done with this new and hopefully healthy OL in 2007, if he couldn’t have done anything better with this line, I’d lay all the blame at his feet. However, assuming the worst about 2007, if Schaub can’t perform well with this OL and the OL is still in the bottom 5 in the league in pass protection, will anyone here admit they were wrong about Carr and his performance?

One thing that I don’t think has been explained well is financial impact to the Texans of cutting David Carr. Was his contract for 2007 ($5.5M) and 2008 ($6M) guaranteed? Does he still get all, part or none of that money? If he signs >and plays with a new team, does that affect the money that the Texans may still owe to him? And finally, would you explain what dead money is and how it affects the salary cap.

Many thanks,

Dan in Panama City

Dan,

As I recall, but will have to make some phone calls, I believe the Texans will take a $8.75 million cap hit on Carr this year.

The term “dead money” is the salary cap room allocated to players who are no longer with the team (ala, David Carr). I believe the Texans have somewhere around $1.5-$2.0 million of dead money for Carr.

What “dead money” can be defined as is financial residue left over by poor judgments from a team. It can be poor decisions from a draft or poor decisions from free agency and extensions given to a player. Dead money is lost. Too much “dead money” against a team can virtually keep it from making any upgrades until that dead money comes off the books.

I know it’s a lot of information and I hope it clears up some things. If not, just let me know what else I can help you answer. -TH

Yes, Warren Moon was saked a bunch of times at the begining, and then he got great behind Hall of Famers Mike Munchack and Bruce Mathews. No, it was not all th O-line’s fault. The blame can be placed on all aspects of the offense in the last 5 years. The lack of coaching, David Carr, the O-line, no real # 2 receiver, no dependable running game, and no tight end. When Dominick Davis/Wiliams was healthy, we had our greatest improvement at 7-9! We will never know what could have been with Carr. Only time will tell. Bottom line is that we have a new QB. Lets put some tools around him, so that we have a greater chance at winning than losing. I think the off-season has been succesful thus far. With a solid draft, this team should be looking @ 8-8 or 9-7 for 2007.

Most of the readers may not be old enough to remember Earl Campbell’s first year, but with basically the same OL as 1977, Earl won rookie of the year. No one would confuse Carl Mauck, Conway Hayman, Greg Sampson, etc. for Pro Bowlers.

When D. Davis was healthy, he hit the holes and all of a sudden, there were more holes and he got to 1,000 yards. When Rosenfels took over in TN, he wasn’t exactly pummeled even though TN knew the Texans had to pass on almost every down.

My point is that sometimes the backs and QBs can make an OL look and play better than it has before. The attitude of the RB and QB definitely affect the way the OL plays and you can see it every year. Sometimes it is just about hitting the hole quickly or getting the rid of the ball. I think we will see that this year with Green (maybe Peterson) and Schaub.

Did i just hear someone reference Reggie Bush as the best running back of all time? Please tell me you mean the best running back in the Pac 10 of all time. Reggie bush can’t even come close to Emmit Smith, Thurman Thomas, Walter peyton. I mean he’s good and all but lets not get ridicolous here. Furthermore I doubt his durability, these running backs these days are max @ 8 yrs you may get 10 yrs out of one. I am not sure if you were being sarcastic, but Bush is not the RB in the NFL “brotha”.

In all of this fiasco of trades and releases the one person I sorta feel sorry for is D. Davis. I mean I was calling for his release last year but when i think of the potential he had and how a healthy Dominque could have altered alot of decisions. Well I guess he’s gonna go back to LA and eat crawfish or whatever, but I don’t see him ever playing football again.

I am wondering which team is going to gamble on Michael Bush from Louiville, good grief 2 major leg surgeries in addition to being a big dude. His stock may be diminishing.

Now my last point. Of course everyone has heard about Jackie Battle’s proday over at U of H. It was pretty good, but now the knock on him is “oh he dont play to that speed in games”. Ummmm all Im going to say is Mario Williams having a fantastic workout/combine but it was countless whispers going on about him not showing up in games and his collegiate sack total was accumulated in half of a season. MARIO you are on the clock “brotha”

Hey people. I hope everyone is doing well(except for you Cowboy, I hope someone pee’d in your OJ)HAHAHAHAHA

The sacks were everyone’s fault. Backs couldn’t block, the oline was average at run blocking but well below average at pass protection. When we max protect with TE and/or RB/FB we limit the passing game for the offense because David was so gun shy and had the deer in a headlight look. I think the national media doesn’t know enough about our Team to make anything other than a generic stmt. The General said that the O-line has been address to some degree and Schaub’s decision making with the football will play a part. No happy feet, etc.

I think the line play will improve and wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be. granted it wasn’t great but it wasn’t worst in the league.

Either way, I am excited about the prospects for this season. Carr needed a new address for his career to continue and OUR team needed to go in another direction. I don’t like all the talk about this trade making or breaking Kubes and Rick Smith because it will take longer than 1 offseason to repair the damage that was the Casserly/Capers era.

Just a kind of out there observation. All of the website i am seeing interviews with Warren Moon and Dan Pastorini regarding David Carr and the Texans. The game has changed since their day and i personally could care less about their opinion and dont see why they find it necessary to comment on David and current events just so they can be noticed. Im surprised Warren had time to do those interviews between beating his wife (or ex-wife i suppose)

THE TEXANS DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO IN RELEASING DAVID CARR AND D.WILLIAMS. SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO DO THINGS TO GET BETTER AND THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT IS HARD ABOUT BEING A NFL PLAYER. CARR DIDN’T HAVE WHAT IT TOOK TO BE A NFL QUARTERBACK. HE WOULD BE A LITTLE GUN SHY AT TIMES AND THEN HE WOULD LOOK LIKE A DEER CAUGHT IN THE HEADLIGHTS.

I HOPE CARR CAN FIND ANOTHER SPOT WITH ANOTHER NFL TEAM MAYBE AS A BACK UP BUT NOT HAS A STARTER.

THIS IS A NEW YEAR AND ITS TIME TO MOVE ON AND GET READY FOR THE 2007 SEASON.

A PLAY-OFF SPOT WOULD BE NICE IF THE TEXANS CAN WIN ENOUGH GAMES TO GET THERE.

ONE THING IS CERTAIN IS THAT THE COLTS HAD BETTER LOOK OUT BECAUSE THE TEXANS ARE GETTING BETTER AND NOT WORSE.

You are correct I was being sarcastic about Reggie Bush being the “greatest RB in the history of football.” I think you summed up what I was trying to say-he’s not the greatetst thing since sliced bread. People on the blog are slagging the the ESPN critics for dogging the Texans OL, but these people are probably the same people who were being critical of the Texans for not taking Reggie Bush with the first pick after those same ESPN critics had proclaimed Bush the greatest player to ever come to the NFL–all without him playing a single NFL down. (BTW, those same ESPN critics, halfway through the season, were calling Maroney the best rookie running back in the NFL. (sarcasm on) Wait, I’m confused you ESPN experts said Bush was the greatest ever at the time of the draft, but now Maroney is. Could you just pick one? (sarcasm off)) Anyway, my long winded point is ESPN is entertainment, people shouldn’t get too upset about anything they say. ESPN hypes Eric Metcalf, er I mean Reggie Bush, as the greatest RB in the history of football, people shouldn’t believe them. Just like when ESPN criticizes the Texans OL, it doesn’t mean they are right. No sense getting upset about it either way. My opinion is the OL has been weak with pass protection since the start of the franchise, I think the stats bear this out, whether ESPN thinks this or not, I couldn’t care less. I just want to see the problem fixed before Schaub gets pounded, a la Carr. Hopefully, with last season’s and this season’s moves, the Texans are in the process of turning the pass protection around. We’ll see.

How talented was the Texans’ OL in the past up to 2006? Well, how many of their former starters now let go are projected starters on other teams? Other coaches see us during games and on films, and they will see if can punch running holes or create a consistent pass protection pocket. I get the feeling that our OL talent has never been considered good, even considering when Carr made terrible decisions and throws. When we beat the Colts last year do you think it had to do with their D-line having a bad season stretch, our OL showing some ability, or a combination of both?

I think the blame lies somewhere in the muddled middle.Obviously the Texans’ “achievement” of the season record for most QB sacks against was more than a little due to their terrible O-line play those first couple of seasons. But over time, Carr’s skittishness seemed to have contributed more and more to their offensive ineffectiveness.While numbers tell a tale, there’s something to be said for the “change of scenery” effect.Carr needed to go elsewhere to have any hope of salvaging his career. Schaub’s new opportunity is his best hope, too.Everyone’s got something to prove here. And fear is a great motivator.

Ok this is what i meant on my part…the first 4 games of the didnt the yr pass protection actually decent and carr put up decent numbers? The problem was the for our first 4 games our running game was so bad that the most an individual RB rushed for was 58 yds which was pretty sad. What teams knew about it was the fact that they were so worried about Kukak zone blocking on running that they focus on that more since the preseason we ran the ball very well. So carr put up good numbers due to that. Well after those 4 games teams start to really realize that there was really no fear in our running game that they start focusing more on Carr and and especially andre since andre had over 100 yds receiving 4 our of the first 6 games so they start playing a lot more cover 2 which was the beginning of Carr downfall. Which made it easier for teams to blitz more cause of the fact that no one feared our running game which made it seem that our O line was bad cause without a good running game the playaction and botleg was not working at all which lead to more sacks. I mean come on i would do the same thing if dayne and 6th pick in lundi were the starting RB. On top of that Carr playing very poorly in the dallas, tenn, and patriot game. I mean there was one game that i could say that the def was in the back field all day long which was the raider game and maybe the patriot game, but even the patriot game carr made more poor plays than the o line did. On top of that Carr throwing 2 touchdowns and one of them in garbage time the last 9 games..i mean is that the o line fault he wasnt reading the def correctly? So like i stated it started off with the blame of RB being so horrible the first 5 games and then when def adjusted and let the RB get theirs that is when Carr played poorly not being able to adjust to the cover 2 def they were playing on us.

do you agree or disagree and if you disagree please break it down for me why Philip.

Regarding the original post regarding the media’s analysis of the Texans’ offseason…..I take it with a grain of salt. In my opinion, 25% of what the national media analysts discuss or report is relevant, and the rest is nothing but fluff.

Having said that, the national media can make an issue very relevant due to their reach and influence. In other words, if the national media analysts continually opinion that Kubiak and Smith jobs’ careers are banked on Schaub’s success, regardless of other improvements on the team, then it wouldn’t surprise me if Kubiak and Smith are looking for work in a couple of years if the rest of the team shows improvement in play, but Schaub struggles.

If that is the case, it is even more important for fans to speak out and show support to show that we recognize the improvement in team play on the field, and also recognize that one player isn’t the end all be all of the Texans’ success. Regardless, of what the national media opinions.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I am those that believe that blame goes all around for Carr’s play the last 5 years and the team’s struggles as a result.

McNair, for maintaining emotional faith in Carr as a model guy to keep in the organization. John P. Lopez’s column hit that topic squarely today.

Casserly, for not putting emphasis on improved O-Line talent between year’s 1-3 AND banking that Boselli was going to be the anchor EVENTUALLY. Overall, Casserly showed that his personnel evaluation was suspect, but I am only referring to Carr’s situation specifically.

Chris Palmer, for trying to change Carr’s release point in his rookie year vs. modifying Carr’s position in the pocket, the blocking scheme up front to create passing lanes taylor made for Carr, or even adjust receiver route patterns that would benefit Carr’s abilities. (I was one of those that asked, why in the world would you draft him #1, and then try and change a vital part of what brought him success in college that caused you to draft him #1.)

Dom Capers for 1) allowing so much offensive system change between year’s 2-4, and 2) allowing the coddling and protection of Carr vs. challenging Carr on not accepting average play and mistakes made by him or his teammates.

His teammates (specifically the offense) for 1) not playing better and 2) not demanding more from their coaches and teammates to better protect Carr, after realizing how Carr was being sacked at a sickening rate.

Carr himself for not showing enough vocal leadership that should have been expected of him. Not going above and beyond to ensure that his teammates where all on the same page consistently, and demanding that his teammates play better, and even demanding his coaches and GM to emphasize the woes of the talent and coaching around him. As a teammate, it was easy to root for Carr, because he was a nice, classy guy, who never threw teammates under the bus when they performed poorly, which for the most part is what you want from a teammate. For a leader and face of the franchise though, Carr needed to show far more. In a sense, the position of being the QB of the Houston Texans (at least for Texans’ fans passionate about their football), quite frankly may have been too big of a position for someone of Carr’s family first type and laid back character. (I’m not putting his character down, but I think Carr’s character just wasn’t the right fit for this team from 2002-2006 under the circumstances under he was placed.)

It’s a shame since Carr literally had Houston fans and media salivating over him and essentially fixated on his every move and appearance early on (remember the haircut? Are you kidding?). But, he never really grabbed the Bull by the horns (no pun intended) in this town.

I rarely pay attention to anything the national media say about our local teams. I’ve read enough, and seen enough, over the years to realized most of them never actually watch the teams play or follow along for an entire season.

As for David Carr, I tried to remain objective and positive about the guy for as long as possible. I gave up on him during the game in Nashville last year; here was his opportunity to show his improvement, show the fans that Texans management was right to keep him, and what does he do? Lay an egg, and get benched at half time.

There’s no doubt that the Texans as an organization failed to help him develop, ala

– lack of competent QB coaching early in his career;

– mistakes and experiments along the offensive line that never panned out (like trying to convert a TE into a LOT);

– unimaginative offensive scheming that failed to keep the defenses off balance.

On top of it all, Carr has had (and still has) some fundamental problems as a QB. He doesn’t read coverages very quickly; he telegraphs his throws; he doesn’t have a lot of (or any) charismatic, leadership ability; his delivery results in the ball coming out low, so that passes get knocked down; and despite his decent mobility, he seems to lack a feel for the pocket.

So I cannot blame just the Offensive Line for his troubles. That view is shortsighted, and an easy way out.

One day I’d like to hear what Ron Jaworski says about David Carr. He’s one of the only national analysts I trust.

Great post, I think you hit the nail on the head. There is plenty of blame to go around, to blame one person for the first five years is simply scapegoating although I do believe that Capers/Casserly should shoulder most of the blame. Carr was a kid when he came to the team and they knew that as did his teammates, granted he gets paid the big bucks to lead the team but sometimes it seemed as though the team lacked direction. At this point Capers or other teammates should have stepped in and tried to bring people together.

I want to address some of the postings here. While everyone is entitled to their opinion I would caution use of a “fantasy world” where every player you want is yours because you want him at whatever $$ because, as we all know, money grows on trees and things like salary cap, budgets and profits are just words to make things sound professional..

David,

When you said “all kidding aside” I thought your were done trying to be funny. the rest of your post is a joke too…

1. you can’t demote carr because of the money he makes and the fact that he takes up money which could be spent on Free agents.

2. Michael Turner was tendered by the chargers at a price intended to keep him. Even if he did become a free agent, money wise we couldn’t afford him(salary cap). You can’t just pay a player “whatever it takes”

3. Why change OC when you just promoted him and do not have: a. a better candidate b. time to hire a better candidate

who better to be OC on a team with a weak o line than a former head coach, experienced in winning and considered an expert at offensive line coaching?

4. you can’t just “alter” the offensive scheme. It’s not that easy, you have players that fit the system and coaches that coach the system. Its a proven system..why change it?

5. since when are you an offensive coordinator and thus qualified to determine fullback as an “antiquated position” Ladanian tomlinson doesn’t think so. He is qualified to make that judgement.

6. I don’t even know what the “Buddy Ryan philosophy” means but if I am not mistaken, isn’t that basically saying draft talent and coach them properly?

7. Jamie Sharper, are you kidding me. the guy has a bum knee and is out of football.

8. I actually like your #5

9. See my #3 in response to your #6

10. in 2008 you draft for position of need at that time taking into account best available at each position of need. Why draft a QB unless Sage is gone or Schaub tanks/gets hurt(frequently)?????

With all that said, David I respect your right to have an opinion and its more than welcome on this blog as TH has told countless others. But please do us all a favor and think a little about what your typing.

TH,

sorry about all that, I just..it was just one of those things that had to be said. I am glad that V. Leach is back and hope that Charles Spencer’s injury is progressing. We might be turning a corner on this whole thing. I’m still excited and I think that the Texans will trade back on D-day going somewhere between 15-20 and drafting best available Defensive player…wideouts are deep in this draft and can be had with 2nd or 3 round picks. hopefully they can pick up a 2nd to move.

The Texans are looking around for a team that would be willing to throw in an OL player if they want to swap first round picks (having the Texans dropping further into the first round). They haven’t found anything they are interested in yet. The team really doesn’t want to draft an OL high in the first round. If they stay where they are, they need to go after a WR or S in the first round. The signing of OT Jordan Black will help them, but they need a little more depth at the OL position. I will keep this forum update every hour if there is any action on the home-front. -TH

I’m a life-long Dolphins fan, and if they sign Carr, I’m done with them. First they brought in a string of stiffs, which was difficult. The Fiedler/Feeley/Huard/Frerotte years were tough. Then Culpepper, who I loved in Minnesota, but he seems to have some Domanick Williams issues. THEN JOEY FREAKING HARRINGTON. If the cherry on top is Carr, I’m done. End of story. I just can’t take it any more.

Doug,

I am not sure why the ‘Phins want so many QB’s. They keep collecting has-beens (I am not speaking of Carr), but Miami seems to not try and get a franchise QB. -TH

Well a part of the fault might lie with the OL but you can say that it was all their fault. DC doesn’t exactly have the best mechanics for a quarterback (as is somewhat shown by the number of balls he had batted down).

I think we are better off here without him. I think he was an outstanding professional and think he conducted himself very impressively unfortunately that didn’t translate to wins.

I think he will be fine where ever it is he ends up.

I think the new personel around here are going to make a big diffrence. I know that the schedule might not be as favorable for us next season but I think that if we have another draft as good as last year and Charles Spencer make a full recovery that we are really going to suprise alot of people next year – you heard it here first.

You can come aboard with me and help the Tedd Ginn movement. Remember, I have been saying a WR and Ginn would be a great fit. He’s not the biggest WR in the draft, but he’s the fastest.

I promise you some of the Texans personnel read this. How do I know? Because I know someone that interned with them and he told me that the Texans personnel were hoping I would be a little more positive with my forum.

I don’t think I have ever been negative, have I? I have always called it how the facts are. I don’t think I have ever been negative on here. The last time I checked, I wasn’t on the Texans payroll. I am going to continue to run this as I as I see fit. I love our team. This forum is for everyone to express how they feel. Hey, at least they watch this stuff.

the blame first should be laid at the top.. especially an owner that is so highly involved with choosing talent.. then down to the GM and HC and coordinators and then finally the coach ont he field the Quarterback and then whatever and whoever else you want to add.

Maybe we should never have drafted Carr in a weak QB class.. none of the QB’s drafted that year have panned out to do anything and only 4 i think were drafted in the first 4 rounds. Carr only played two years in college with one great year and most of the scouts predicted that he would have the same said problems that he has had all of his career.. they didnt know what o-line he would have.

Casserly was pure garbage. he made me feel like throwing up when he would be on tv explaining why we should buy into their dumb moves throughout all of the drafts including the expansion draft with tony boseli.. Dom didnt have the balls to disagree with anything either.

How many teams have an all pro caliber offensive line without injuries? there will never be a perfect OL.. and even if they are your weakness you work around it with shorter drop backs etc.. Even on three step drops the QB held the ball too long..

last but not least… TH review the stats… why did none of our backups have the same problems that Carr had when he played? I dont care which backup went in the game they were’nt getting sacked, fumbling and throwing INT”s like Carr did.. and it was against the same defense because Houston never blew anybody out for them to start putting subs in… please compile each backups stats while here in houston and you will find a far less percentage of miscues per snap than Carr.. Everyone takes part of the blame but on the field Carr has most of it !

Ginn would be nice, but I just think secondary is our absolute biggest need at this point. This is a deep WR draft and I think we could get a good WR in the 3rd round. Cb & safetys are scarce in this draft and I think we should either draft Hall (if Landry is gone) or trade down and try to get a second round pick. Anyway good stuff TH.

MST,

I definitely agree with you. I would not be unhappy with Leon Hall or a Safety up top. That would be good with me. I just hope they decide to go after one of the coveted WR. -TH

if they think you are being negative, then they must not have read “the kings” (what a joke) blog or even RJ’s. at least RJ fires back with some pretty witty and hilarious comments

this is the most positive blog of the texans ANYWHERE, but how much positivity can they really expect.

message to the texans brass

GIVE US MORE TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT AND THEN MAYBE WE CAN BE!!!

the last 6 weeks have been a great GREAT start, but it doesnt make up for the last 5, yet??

if ANY other team in the NFL had the 5 year history the texans had, the negativity would be way worse.

I worry that the TEXANS personnel think that since we have been behind the team from the start no matter what, at least some of us have, that we will ALWAYS be that way

i think i can speak for all texans fans and say that this is the year that EVERYONE has and will continue to voice their TRUE opinions, and the TEXANS management better realize this and be happy with the positive aura that THIS BLOG is trying to portray

Dude I am right with you on Ted Ginn. I have been watching him since last yr’s UT vs OSU game that UT won with VY. The guy is amazingly fast and if he wouldn’t have gotinjured th e dynamic of the national championship may have been different. You got my vote “brotha”